The Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested four people at Barcelona's El Prat airport for taking part in a mass brawl between unlicensed suitcase packers in which one person was injured. The confrontation occurred at around six in the afternoon on Saturday in the departure area of Terminal 1 in an attempt to gain control of the room. Since the pandemic, the concession to offer travelers packaging using laminating machines has been suspended and the airport has not yet given it to any other company, Efe said.
In the recorded images of the event, the packers can be seen running through the terminal and colliding with the plastic rolls they use to cover the suitcases. Some passengers who accidentally got caught up in the brawl watch in shock as the teenagers continue their fight, which ended with one person being injured by a blow to the head.
In the absence of an official packing service, groups of young people have been offering the activity for months without a license and competing with each other, extorting the offer at prices that vary between 5 and 10 euros. Already last April, some of the packers told EL PAÍS that discussions were taking place about taking over “the good areas”. Police sources assure that there were already discussions before Saturday. To be first, some packers said they lined up the revolving doors looking for tourists with their rudimentary manual packing service.
Some try to do it outside the establishments to avoid problems with the security services or even with the Mossos, who claim that they will be fined up to 200 euros and have the packaging rolls confiscated, which cost around 15 euros. A spokesman for the airport claimed to this newspaper that difficulties in controlling who enters the facilities indicated that there was an intention to contract out the official service before the end of the years, although he assured that if the licensed There are also some laminating companies in operation that offer to pack the suitcases irregularly and at the cheapest price.
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to